The Beauty and the Beast
by TheSquishy0ne
Summary: Jade just didn’t understand all the fuss about life. I mean, come on if you’re going to spend a 1000 years fighting a loosing battle, then why bother? Well…because perhaps...human survival depends on Jade and her ability to calm the ‘creatures’? Duh!


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- - - I do not claim to own the original ideas and story from the move Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Alien Resurrection, Alien Versus Predator, or any of the original Alien comics.

I do however claim to own the characters in this story, and story line.

The views expressed on this website are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect those this website of or my employers.

© Copyright TheSquishy0ne 2006. - - -

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**¤ T H E - B E A U T Y - A N D - T H E - B E A S T ¤**

**P R O L O G U E:**

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**Part 1 - The Elder's Speech **

The elder walked with one hand on his back and the other holding a delicately carved cane. His features were truly ancient but that was considered usual for the audience sitting scattered around the hall, all eyes following the slow figure. His skin was mottled with blemishes and hanging loose all around his neck. What was left of his white hair had been braided with beads, and his long white beard had been platted into three sections. The elder wore long robes which the beaded ends dragged behind him, not visible to the eye buckled boots and a pistol around his thigh, a sachet around his waist filled with numerous tools, and a pair of brass goggles strapped to a belt.

As he sat down onto a stone chair those who watched held their breaths and sighed with relief as finally the elder looked up with those blue wisdom eyes and a slight smile facing the people. The short silence that followed was not awkward but remained persistent for the remainder of the evening. The young ones in the crowd did not yet know what knowledge lay ahead as of yet, what wonders would be revealed and what horrors would be spoken of by the elder. Older men and woman feared to relive the stories as if they were their actual memories themselves, and dreaded the fact that those who did not know; their time had come to learn the truth.

"Now, once again I have been called from the council chambers to this meeting held every 6 cycles and once again I see before me young bright faces that I have to condemn to fates of danger; fates of fighting; fates of killing." Elder Blaze called out loud so the whole hall could clearly hear his voice.

"Children in the audience tonight, and I shall be brief and to the point with you. Tell me, how many know truth in the history given to you already?"

The children surrounded by carers and parents shyly raised their hands, the Elder randomly picked upon a few, but a muttering began in the hall anyway.

"That there are creatures in this world that should not be dealt with?"

"That we live in communes organised by grades to be safe from the outside world?"

"That perhaps this life we lead is not the lives we have chosen?"

The last point instructed Elder Blaze to stop the speaking, and gaze around the feared faces now raised on the younger people. The Elder put his head in his hand as he sighed. It was always so hard to explain to them all even when he pretended to be so forward and straight. There had to be a beginning for the people. Elder Blaze swiped the dust from his robes, and laid his cane over his knees.

"Now, now…" His voice trailed off. "I guess you are right… whoever spoke last. The lives you have now are not the lives you were born into and then again the lives you were born into are not the lives you would wish to have but there is always loss and there will always be sacrifice. If there's the one thing I have learnt from all my years as apart of the council, is that when we work together as human beings; as a team; survival is a definite answer – I…"

"Please! Tell us of the outside world. The world beyond these city gates. What is out there? Why do you keep it so secret?" A teenager boy interrupted from the audience.

"It is kept secret to stop young fellows like you from doing stupid things when you're not yet a man of course!" Elder Blaze snapped back. "Now. Let me start from the beginning, without any interruptions …" Said the elder sparing a glare towards the boy.

"Eons ago our human race was thriving in everyway possible. We had mastered space travel in our plight to discover new worlds, and many desperate humans became refugees on government controlled ships. The reason why they were desperate was because they were afraid of what would happen to them if they were left on Earth, so they saw it as their only way of escaping to a better life. The idea of a new home planet to replace the slowly decaying and used up Earth was on everyone's mind, not just the poor.

As time went on, and new planets were inhabited by humans, the government had the ever increasing problem of the population of the human race. The solution was to organise families, racial and cultural groups, the rich or poor, into different planet sections. This way the government hoped to control in different systems the development of the human race, and yes, I know exactly what you're thinking. The separation of humans was indeed cruel and unjust but at the time the government had been greatly influenced by 'foreseen promises' of the future and how great things would become if everything was planned right.

Scared of creating another 'Earth' where humans conquered with war, built buildings upon buildings, and lay waste to the ecological environment, the Government saw it fit to breed the 'perfect' human race where; there was no social discord, no problems with money and no need for any governing body to intervene in the community. Basically life would be their own paradise, and this idea went completely to the officials' heads.

And so, humans were charted off to habitable planets, and life continued on as what ever you would call normal."

Elder Blaze paused to see whether the audience had any questions, but all sat silent and still waiting for him to continue and so he did.

"I'm going to move this story on a bit to the part where our planet here became the home for your ancestors. Everything worked out fine, as did with the other planets, and our home here was managed beautifully. But you see, this is the part of the story where things go wrong. Things went terribly wrong.

Not even 3 months into the settlement did people begin to discover that the planet had other occupants. Creatures like no other. They had stealth and speed and as soon as the first of them was seen did they begin to multiply rapidly. These monsters, these demons, were indescribable. They walked on all fours, but could stand upright. They had long tails twice the size of their body, covered with spines! With large heads they were considered intelligent to a point.

An army was brought in to the planet, and a full scale war was unleashed on the creatures…"

Elder Blaze stood up, and sighed before looking around the hall.

"I'm afraid my children that that war…the war for survival…still continues today.

We are slowly losing the battle. We never stood a chance at the start. The government didn't care about this planet and its people. All it hoped was that we would die out and that the creatures would never escape the planet.

But now you understand why none of you a permitted outside the communes, for out there, in the wild; it's the creatures territory. Once you are out there, you are not permitted to come back. Every security measure must be taken to ensure no creature ever gets inside our home.

A quarter of this population every six cycles is selected to become soldiers to fight outside, to keep the creatures a safe distance away from us. I hope for your sakes, that none of you will be given that task."

At this, the Elder sat back down, and allowed the frightened murmurings of the audience to begin.

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Author's Comment: Boy, oh boy, did I forget this existed! I found the file on my computer a few minutes ago. Ahh that makes me laugh. Anywho. I shall continue this story on, as well as continue writing my other story 'Complete Connection'.

If you read then good on you! And if you review; better still! But please! I beg of you! GET THOSE NASTY SPELLING MISTAKES! (they always need fixing shakes head in shame).

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